With all the talk about technology in tournament bass fishing, I was curious about one point that gets brought up a lot in those back-and-forth exchanges on social media: anglers not knowing how to fish using the old ways. It’s interesting that people think I’m pro-technology or pro-Livescope. I’m not really pro anything when it comes to that debate. I am against limiting innovation. But I’m also a proponent of keeping fishing simple as much as possible. And I’m also a proponent of using your eyes and building your experience base to guide you on where and how to fish based on seasonality and conditions. Which leads to the discussion on how we foster those skills and preserve fishing traditions for future generations.
There are great organizations like the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) who create things like SportfishingPACs and other arms to help in the fight to preserve fishing opportunities and access. What I’m more concerned with is how we pass generational knowledge about fishing on to younger folks so they are not completely reliant on only the latest advances in technology. Instead, using the new tech as another tool in a base of knowledge and skills in the many facets of fishing.
One of the reasons we created Wired2fish was to keep anglers in the loop on tackle and trends around fishing. But mostly, we created it to help pass on knowledge about techniques, seasonal patterns, tackle tips and more to help anglers be very well-rounded and improve everyone’s fishing success. It’s been a passion pursuit for most of us who made content here — always hoping we are doing right by the angling community to improve their fishing knowledge every year.
But I think everyone can help foster an environment that values passing on fishing information. If you want to do so, here are some of the things to consider about passing on fishing traditions to newer anglers.
FIGHTING THE FISHING SECRETS
The funny thing with fishing is everyone preaches preserving tradition, yet keeps everything a secret. Your secret spot. The secret bait they are chewing on. A special retrieve you found that gets more bites. When someone finds a good thing, they are slow to share it for the fear that everyone will rush out and blow up your pattern or the thing you worked so hard to find. So that is something we’ve had to compete with to further the information shared with younger anglers.
While a lot of us were taught the basics by fathers, uncles, grandfathers, neighbors and friends, not everyone has that network of anglers to show them. So while I don’t give up the juice to all my stuff, I do try to share a lot of what I learn in an effort to share traditional methods for finding and fooling fish that continue to produce consistently.
PARTICIPATION IN YOUTH FISHING
There has been an exponential increase in young angler participation at the tournament level. But I think overall, the data keepers will tell you that less young people are getting into fishing. Call it a competition for attention, diminishing access to good fishing waters or simply overstimulation, there is obviously something preventing young folks from getting started in fishing.
Maybe the passing of traditions down from generation to generation is diminishing. Lots of families have two income earners and a lot less free time with their kids. So it takes a concentrated and concerted effort to get kids fishing. While high school and college fishing is growing from the tournament side, we need to shore up more opportunities to get young people fishing just for fun where we can. A lot of folks organize youth weekends and bring people to a local fishery and help get kids fishing. It takes a village of volunteers to pull something like this off. But if you have the opportunity to help out in any way, I think it’s a great place to make sure we are sharing our traditions with new anglers.
One of my favorite accounts on social media is called fly__high_eli on Instagram. Eli James Iorg (pictured above) shares his and his family’s adventures as he teaches his kids the ins and outs of fly fishing, drift boat fishing, river fishing and more. I just love their channel because I think it encourages more families to share fishing traditions with their kids. A great example for us all.
INTERACT ONLINE WITH FISHERMEN
While I’m not a fan of social media per se, there is a growing influence of fishing groups on social platforms. While there is a lot of snark, know-it-alls, and just frankly bad information floating around in fishing groups, I think there are several that work really hard to share good information and focus on making worthwhile posts to help further good fishing experiences and observations. I lurk in a lot of fishing groups, and I’m trying to do a better job particpating where I can to hopefully help anglers bridge gaps and share experiences they can use on their local fisheries.
And I’ve picked up some helpful tidbits here and there myself in those groups. I personally avoid a lot of dock talk, but I do try to listen to everything I hear. I put some of it through my own experiments on the water to see if I can make versions of those techniques, tips and tackle work in my waters. So there is a lot of good that can come from sharing useful tips in fishing groups online.
ENCOURAGE MORE TIME ON THE WATER
I think the biggest thing that can preserve the fishing tradition is encouraging people to get on the water more. And encouraging anglers to explore. Go to new areas on their home waters, go to new bodies of water, and venture farther off the beaten path. I find now that the purposeful effort to explore new waters and techniques to expand my own knowledge base in the last few years has really lit a new fire for me. I’ve been down the panfish rabbithole for a few years and I’m expanding into trout a lot more now. All in an effort to find more fishing experiences that enlighten me and expose crossovers from one technique, species or location to another.
An explorative spirit leads to a lot more discovery. And that quest for discovery is what has driven fishing traditions for many of us. I spent time learning to flip and pitch until I was proficient at it. I spent time learning to work a topwater and jerkbait until I was proficient at it. I spent a lot of time perfecting my casting with baitcasters, spinners and now fly rods. I spent a lot of time working on boat control to make my fishing easier and more efficient. I spent a lot of time using mapping tools to find new potential good water off the beaten path. I use my electronics to search through a lot of water to rule out the majority of bad water to find the small amount of productive water in a massive fishery.
Encouraging anglers to spend more time on the water exploring will lead to a continuation of traditional fishing knowledge. What are you doing to continue the fishing traditions?
